04 March 2008
A collaborative project between University of Ulster and Southern Regional College was launched in Belfast today by Sir Reg Empey.
Open Source Software (OSS) is computer software that permits users to use, change and improve the software and to redistribute it in modified or unmodified form. In a nutshell, this means that software can be developed for individual purpose and that it can also be distributed without paying massive amounts for license fees.
OSSis growing far faster than the industry average for the traditional software model and has been has been adopted by firms such as SUN, IBM and Google.
Jonathan Wallace Chair of the OpenIsland Conference and Director of Knowledge & Technology Transfer for the Faculty of Computing & Engineering at the University of Ulster said:
“Even those companies who have no involvement with any FOSS (and that is now rare), urgently need to understand the relevant technologies and business models. Indeed, one of the largest inhibiting factors to the greater development of this software is a lack of understanding of the issues, especially associated with licensing, that goes with such software. Many people are unaware of Open Source Software or are afraid to use free software as they think it’s inferior. They don’t realise that massive global companies such as Google operate on an OSS framework. OPEN-N.I. has been established to directly address this need.”
Increasingly Universities, Further Education Colleges and other bodies are seeing FOSS as a low risk method for exploiting their existing work, sharing good practice and improving their national and international reputation without the need for a large marketing and distribution infrastructure. Indeed, software already made FOSS by the University of Ulster has received national endorsement and international interest.
“This important development for the Software Sector also presents an opportunity for the College to further enhance its reputation as an organisation that supports local business through research and development activities. The Southern Regional College is committed to embedding the use of Open Source software within our day to day business process operations and to ensure that all students across the College are exposed to the benefits of the wide range of Open Source products available.” said project co-ordinator Daniel Bled from SRC
The HEFEConnected project has been instrumental in supporting OPEN-N.I. . The collaboration between UU and SRC will promote awareness, understanding, development and uptake of free and open source software across the private and public sectors, as well as enhancing the competitiveness of the indigenous software sector by exploiting the opportunities offered by Open Source business models.
